Dell Technologies and Microsoft Corp have announced a partnership to address a wider range of customer needs and help accelerate digital transformation. Through this collaboration, the companies will deliver a fully native, supported, and certified VMware cloud infrastructure on Microsoft Azure. Additionally, joint Microsoft 365 and VMware Workspace ONE customers will be able to manage Office 365 across devices via cloud-based integration with Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory. VMware will also extend the capabilities of Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop leveraging VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.

“At Microsoft, we’re focused on empowering customers in their digital transformation journey, through partnerships that enable them to take advantage of the Microsoft cloud, using the technologies they already have. Together with Dell Technologies and VMware, we are providing our mutual customers with an integrated cloud experience and digital workplace solutions to open up new opportunities and meet their evolving needs,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

“With this announcement Dell Technologies and Microsoft are working to simplify our customers’ entire technology environment. Our goal is to provide a single view from edge to core to cloud – an integrated platform for our customers’ digital future,” said Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell Technologies.

“Customers are excited to see us expand our collaboration with Microsoft. These innovative cloud and client offerings will deliver customers even more value, provide more flexibility to accelerate their hybrid multi-cloud and multi-device journey, and accelerate the digital transformation of their business,” commented Pat Gelsinger, CEO, VMware.

Azure VMware Solutions are built on VMware Cloud Foundation – a comprehensive offering of software defined compute, storage, networking and management – deployed in Azure. With these solutions, customers can capitalise on VMware’s broadly deployed and trusted cloud infrastructure while experiencing the power of Microsoft Azure.

Azure VMware Solutions allow customers to seamlessly migrate, extend and run existing VMware workloads from on-premises environments to Azure without the need to re-architect applications or retool operations. Customers will be able to build, run, manage, and secure new and existing applications across VMware environments and Microsoft Azure while extending a single model for operations based on established tools, skills and processes as part of a hybrid cloud strategy. Some of the more popular customer scenarios Azure VMware Solutions will support are app migration and data centre expansion, disaster recovery and business continuity and modern application development.

“At Walmart, we’re focused on making it easy, fast, friendly and fun to shop with us no matter where you are – whether online, in our stores or through our pick-up services. We’re excited about the role technology plays in this and how it can help us deliver new services faster. Cloud and Client innovations are an important part of this and a key enabler of our digital transformation. The partnership being announced today between Microsoft, Dell and VMware in Cloud and Client innovations will allow them to better bring their best solutions to customers like us. We look forward to continuing to work with Microsoft, Dell and VMware to accelerate our digital transformation,” commented, Clay Johnson, Executive Vice President and Enterprise CIO, Walmart.

With this agreement, mutual Microsoft 365 and VMware Workspace ONE customers will be able to get the most out of their digital workspace across device platforms while maximising existing and future investments. Specifically, customers will be able to use Workspace ONE to manage and secure the powerful productivity features of Office 365 across devices via cloud-based integration with Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory.

Through the new Dell Technologies Unified Workspace offerings, customers can further accelerate their Windows 10 digital transformation journey by leveraging the integration of Microsoft Windows Autopilot and Dell Device Provisioning and Deployment Services, like Dell ProDeploy – all enabled by the integration of Microsoft 365, Workspace ONE, and Dell Provisioning Services.

In addition, Microsoft recently announced Windows Virtual Desktop, the only service that delivers a multi-session Windows 10 experience, optimisations for Office 365 ProPlus, and support for Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) desktops and apps. As a part of this agreement, VMware will extend the capabilities of Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop to enable customers to further accelerate their cloud initiatives, leveraging VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. Initial capabilities are expected to be available as a tech preview by the end of calendar year 2019.

Microsoft and VMware are also exploring initiatives to drive further integration between VMware infrastructure and Azure such as integration of VMware NSX with Azure Networking and integration of specific Azure services with VMware management solutions. They will also be exploring bringing specific Azure services to the VMware on-premises customers. Through this collaboration, the companies aim to give customers a more seamless experience across VMware and Azure environments.

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